Device for



UNI

FIC.

l DEVICE FOR APPLYING STEAM AS A MOTOR.

Speccation of Letters Patent No.

T o all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT BLAIR, of Ma-lugin Grove, in the county ofLee and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Device forApplying Steam as a Motor, designed chiefly for driving portablemachinery; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexeddrawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is aplan or top view of my invention. Fig. 2, a vertical section of do,taken in the line x, Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the twofigures.

The object of this invention is to supersede the various horse powersthat are now used for driving portable machinery, chieiiy such as isused by agriculturists, as threshing machines, for instance, churns,pumps, and the like.

The invention consists in placing a traction steam engine on an annularway and having said engine attached to a radius frame, the center shaftof which is provided with a toothed wheel or pulley from which the poweris taken as the engine passes around the annular way.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvention I will proceed to describe it.

A, represents an annular way which may be provided with rails a, a, andon which a traction steam engine B, is placed. This engine may beconstructed in any proper manner, nothing new or novel being required toadapt it to this way, with the exception that the innermost wheelsrequire to be somewhat smaller in diameter than the outer ones e and theaxles of the same radiate from acenter in order that the wheels mayconform to or travel in the paths of circle described by the rails. Theway A, may be constructed in any proper manner, and at its center thereis a vertical shaft C, to theJ upper part of which a radius frame D, isattached, the outer end of said frame being connected to the engine B.The shaft C, may be supported in proper position in any suitable way,and a toothed wheel E, is placed on 26,009, dated November 8, 1859.

said shaft. The wheel E, may be connected by any suitable arrangement ofgearing with a shaftfrom which the power is to be taken, said gearingbeing of course arranged according to the speed required to becommunicated to the machinery to be driven. The way A, may be of largeror smaller diameter according to the power required. It will of coursebe seen that the larger the frame D, the greater will be the power thatmay be taken from the wheel E.

From the above description it will be seen that considerable power maybe obtained from a small engine, owing to the arrangement of the leveror frame D, for transmitting the power from the engine to the machineryto be driven. A stationary engine could not be well arranged for drivingportable machinery. It could not be transported from place to place andthe necessary gearing attached to it with facility, neither could thearrangement for transmitting the power be so simply arranged as by theimprovement herein described. By this improvement a smaller engine maybe used than could be made available if stationary, and besides thewhole device may be readily transported from place to place, and put inoperation at once by merely placing the way A, in a horizontal position.

I do not claim applying the power at the outer end of a long lever, asthis is old. Nor do I claim transmitting motion by such a device, but lThat I do claim as my invent-ion and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The combination with a radial lever or frame D, and circular railway A,and central revolving power transmitting shaft C, of a traction steamengine B, when the crank axes of said engine radiate from the centralshaft C, and the inner traction wheels are made of smaller diameter thanthe outer ones, the whole arranged and operated substantially in t-hemanner and for the purpose set forth.

ROBERT BLAIR.

Vitnesses l/VM. MORGAN, BE'r'sEY ELSWORTH.

